A Gift, or a Curse?
by Cudabear
Summary: What happens when one lucky newb gets a free party hat? This story was written for the Runescape Official forums in July of 2006!
1. Introduction

**IMPORTANT NOTES**

First off, this story was written in July of **2006**. The game is described during that era, with no trade limits, grand exchange, or gravestones.

Second, this is not a well written story. I was only 14 when I wrote this, and it was one of my first stories. I made no changes to the original version before posting it on here. If you're looking for a good story, check out my Penguins of Madagascar Stories.

Third, this story was originally designed for the Runescape Official Forums. That means short, choppy chapters.

Finally, this story has a lot of computer stuff in it, but at the time I really had no idea what I was talking about it. Much of the computer talk is exaggerated or unrealistic, I know. No flames please.

I posted this story because it always makes me remember the old days of RuneScape, when it was a much better game. Feel free to review, or coment on anything ^^.

* * *

Back in December 2005, my good friend from school told me about this cool game he just started playing, called "RuneScape." He told me the site address and I signed up for it that night. As soon as I made my character, walked through the tutorial, and went to Lumbridge, I instantly fell in love with the game.

I soon began learning everything about the free to play game that there was to know. Being the bookworm that I am, I took it all in. I spent countless hours reading the manuals and forums, although I couldn't post. I learned about everything, from the gods, to different kinds of armor, to ores and bars, just about anything you could possibly think of, until one day, I ventured into the "discontinued items" forum.

There I learned everything rare. Easter eggs, pumpkins, Santa Hats, masks, and the rarest of the rare, Party Hats. When I clicked on one "buying all Party hats" thread and looked at the post, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Blue Party hats: 200 million, and so on. I looked up these so called "Party hats" on my favorite RuneScape fansite, and there I found a pictures of a little blue spiked crown. The suggested street prices was 200 million at the time, and I thought, that's _way_ out of my price range, as I was only level 13 at the time, and had about 3k.

Until one day, I found something.


	2. Draynor, 2 am, dead Party Hat Owner

In Mid-January (actually January 16th), I was working my way over to Karajima Island to fish lobsters for the first time (I had just gotten level 40 fishing.) I was currently level 36, working hard to achieve that level in a short time. Being the social butterfly that I am, I told all my friends about RuneScape, and got most of them to sign up.

I was currently at the Varrock east bank, at precisely 2:03 A.M., in world 55. I chose that I would take the long way (through Lumbridge, then Draynor, then Port Sairm) to Karajima Island. I passed through Lumbridge, and then I approached Draynor Village. The place was empty as it was so late at night. I saw one person in the bank, and one person chopping willows. I can't remember his name, but I think he was somewhere around level 60 or 70. He was wearing Monk's Robes, and sporting a White Party Hat upon his head.

I stopped for a second, I really have no idea. I had a strange sensation in my gut to stop. The person in the bank ran East to go to who-knows-where, and the White Party Hat wielding person went to bank his willows. I started walking forward, to Port Sairm, when I saw him swing at a Willow tree. He was on the edge of my vision, when all of the sudden, an 11 surrounded in red appeared on him. I turned around, as I had never seen a double digit being hit anywhere. There was a level 120 Tree Spirit attacking the Party Hat wearer. Without proper armor, the Person was quickly dead, being hit 11's and 10's. I saw him die, with a final blow of 6 done to him. I stepped closer to see what he had dropped.

As he fell down, a full red bar over his head, I saw a strange white pointed hat on the ground. I quickly head control and ran to it (control makes you run) and picked it up. As I moved my mouse over the white pointed object, I realized, It was a White Party Hat. My heart began to beat at a million paces per minute. I chose "wield" from the drop down menu and found a white pointed crown upon my character's head.

I opened another Internet browser and went to the RuneScape Forums. I searched for "White Party Hat" and sure enough, a lot of posts about buying, selling, and complaining posts about White Party Hats popped up. I scrolled down the list, finding many prices above 100 million for the Party Hat, then I found a thread named "Party Hats... Rising in Price?"

The Thread explained all about how Party Hats are predicted to double in price every year or so. I quickly switched back to my RuneScape Game Page, and observed the White Party Hat upon my head. The white blended into my hair, which was a droopy white. I thought it looked stupendous with my full Mithril armor. I thought to myself, if it is over 100 million right now, and is expected to double in price within the next year... why not save it and get more for it later? I quickly looked into my friend's list, finding one of my friends on. My good friend from school was still on, and I pmed him about this find. "OMG!!! You are so (censor) lucky!" he returned. "Just be careful, that thing will get you hacked in a second if you show it off too much..." he also replied. I didn't think much of it. I wanted the whole world to know about this.


	3. Tradegy

After about a week and a half of showing off my party hat, I was still having a blast. It was amusing to see all of the level 80's, 90's and even a few 40's and 50's saying. "That hat you have is worthless, I'll buy it for (100 coins – 3 million)" or something of the like. I declined all of the offers, telling everyone that I knew the price, and they should stop trying to scam newbs out of their money.

I wore it 24/7 even when I was combat training. It looked so nice in contrast to my full Mithril armor. At times I had 10-20 people following me offering unfair amounts for the hat. Depending on my mood, I would decline mean, or nice. I was absolutely loving this attention.

One day, actually January 26th, at 4:07 P.M., I came home from school, happy as ever. This is the day I will never forget.

I opened my RuneScape page and tried to log into world 57. The screen opened and I typed in my username, Siege_me_7 at the time, and my password, which was storms at the time, and clicked log in. A few seconds later, and I was greeted with an "invalid username or password." I inspected my username, not a typo in site. I deleted my password and typed it in letter by letter. S-T-O-R-M-S. I clicked log in again, and was greeted by the same "invalid username or password." I repeated the process a few times, being greeted with the same, heartbreaking message. I realized that my friend was right. I had been hacked, and not having Recovery questions squashed my chances of getting my account back. I tried everything I could to get it back, but it was no use. I lost my White Party Hat.


	4. The Find

A few months later, I was back and running on RuneScape. Late in January, I created a new account, Siege_me_2. I talked to my Mom about RuneScape, and convinced her to try it out for herself. She instantly fell in love with the game, and shortly after leaving the tutorial, made both me and herself members in Early February.

It was May 11th, at 6:53 in the morning. I had off of school that day, and had just polished off another straight night of RuneScape. I had just watched the sun rise, and was back in the game. I logged into world 111, my favorite at the time. It had 602 users.

I was level 53. I had worked hard and achieved much. I had full rune, rune boots, and was working on an obsidian cape at the time. I was spinning flax in Seer's Village, when all of the sudden, my friend messaged me about coming to explore the members part of Karajima Island with him. I accepted and went to the bank to get a teleport for Falador when sadly I noticed I had no law runes to teleport with.

Instead of spending the money on a Law rune, I decided to walk to Falador, as it wasn't that long of a walk. I walked down to Catherby, where I began to make my accent onto White Wolf Mountain.

I passed the level 25 wolves, which left me alone, until I reached the higher level wolves, which attacked me like crazy. I switched on run mode and ran passed them. As I began to decent down the mountain, I saw a level 34, named Pk3r 4 L1f3 as a level 25 wolf attacked him and hit a 2. I noticed his health bar was under 25% full. I stopped, then followed from a distance.

As Pk3r 4 L1f3 Reached the higher level wolves, they quickly demolished him, as he only had mage robes on. He tried to run but it was in vain. I ran over as he fell down, dead. Then I saw what he dropped. There was a few odds and ends runes, an air staff, and a mage robe bottom, but I saw something on the bottom of the pile. I ran closer and made out that it was a Blue Party Hat! Crinkled and old, but still a Party Hat. I ran to pick it up. But Someone else saw it too...

A level 98 named Quizzar3456 was rushing towards it as well. Luckily however, I reached it first and picked up the priceless paper hat. Instead of wearing it, however, I logged out.

I went to the RuneScape main page and changed my password and recovery questions. Then I closed the page and updated my Anti-virus software, which was bugging me for weeks about "new viruses." I did this as fast as my computer would allow me to, seeing as though the one person that did see me take it could be a hacker. I restarted the computer so the Anti-virus software would come into effect. I ran to the phone and picked it up. I dialed my Mom's work number.

Ring...Ring...Ring. I prayed that she would pick up.

"Hello?" her high and cheery voice came from the phone.

"Uh... Mom... I got good news and bad news." I said. My voice was very shaky and uneven.

"Oh, Hi Zach, Ok, tell me the good news first." She sounded a bit worried in my tone of voice.

"Uh... I found a Blue Party Hat." I said. I couldn't believe what I was saying.

"REALLY!" My Mom screamed into the phone. She had heard my countless stories about it and how rare it is. She also knew my last one, and how I was hacked.

"You better not show this one off like the last one." She said strictly.

"Its ok, so far only one person knows I have it, and I changed my password and recogery questions and I updated my Anti-Virus software." I explained.

"Good, we can talk about this when I get home, my shift's over. I'll be home soon." My Mom explained and hung up.

I sat down on the couch and curled up into a ball. I began thinking about this, and how much money I could possibly be making. I then decided _no one_ could know about this. It was just too risky. Just then, a loud alarm noise came from my Computer. It was the noise my Anti-Virus Software made when it blocked a Virus.

I looked at the program. It had blocked and deleted 2 viruses, a key logger, and a hacking program. I was very glad I updated my software, as it had to of been Quizzar3456, or a friend of his, trying to trace my password. Then, my Mom walked in the door.

"Ok, so what's all this about. This Rare Party Hat and stuff." she said excitedly and hung up her purse.

"I've decided, no one should know about this, except you and me. It's just too risky."

"I agree, may I see this Party Hat?" she said even more excitedly.

I nodded, and then logged into my account. I was immediately attacked by some wolves, then ran to into Talvery where it was safer. I ran to Falador bank and deposited the priceless paper hat. My friend began bugging me about logging off, then I just told him I had to go. Then I logged out.


	5. The Mistake

Months passed since I found the Blue Party Hat, and before I knew it, it was summer break. I ran home to play RuneScape, but my Mom was on the computer, but she wasn't playing RuneScape. After I walked through the door, without even saying hello, she quickly burst out, "Ok, I updated your old Anti-Virus software, and I bought two more programs just to be safe. I think your computer is stronger then the Pentagon when it comes to Anti-hacking." she let out a chuckle.

"I'd doubt that... If it is as Hacker proof as the Pentagon, then its not good enough. Accomplished Hackers get into the Pentagon's database often. I'm sure someone could bypass all three programs to give the computer a virus, but thanks anyway." I explained sadly.

"Ok, well its all I know how to do..." she said and let out a sigh.

I had accomplished month in that first month of summer. At the end of June 2006, I was level 75, and had a total level of 1077. I had just about everything I wanted, until the day I achieved level 60 defense. I wanted a dragon medium helmet, currently priced at a hefty 600k, the most expensive thing I had bought so far.

I decided to chop Yews for the money, and with my woodcutting level only being 61, I chopped slower then you could ever imagine, a week later, I only chopped 800 yews, requiring 2000 to sell them at the price of 300 each, and earn 600k. I was so sick and tired of chopping I didn't chop for a week. I was quickly leveling up in combat, eliminating my dreams of being level 75 with a Dragon Medium Helmet. Then one day, while cleaning out my bank, I found the Party Hat.

The Crumpled paper hat was pushed back to the middle of my bank, due to all the withdrawals/deposits, but it was still the most valuable paper crown someone could ever hope to obtain. I opened the RuneScape Forums and went to the Discontinued Items forum. I found one post, called "Buying a Blue Party Hat 300 million." There I left a post,

"I'll sell you one, my world Varrock."

Before I could even switch back to my RuneScape Page, my Anti-Virus software started freaking out. It popped up, closing my RuneScape page. IT listed a never ending list of viruses, hacks, and worms trying to get at my computer. At the top of the screen it said, "your computer is under attack, it is strongly suggested that you shut down your computer to protect it. Also disconnect any Internet connections to stop the wave of viruses."

I did what it said, without thinking, I ripped the internet cable from the back of my computer and shut it down. I prayed, just prayed, that my Anti-Virus software would hold up to the oncoming assault of every virus imaginable. I had disconnected the internet, so that stopped the wave, but that didn't mean the other viruses that were already in could be stopped.

I ran over to the phone and picked it up, dialing my Mom's work number.

Ring...ring...ring...

"Hello?" a man said on the other end of the phone.

"Hello Jim, can I speak to Sally?" I asked. Sally was my mom and Jim was her boss.

"Sure thing." Jim said and the line went silent.

A few moments passed.

"Hello?" my mom's voice said.

"Hi Mom, I kinda made a mistake..." I said shakily, I was still very tense about the computer and the viruses.

"Yes, what's the matter?" She said.

"I tried t o sell that Blue Party Hat, for 300 million." I explained.

"yes, did you get scammed out of it?" she said curiously.

"No worse, The computer was attacked by tons of viruses, I disconnected the internet but thousands already got in." I explained.

"Ok, give it a few hours, then boot up the computer again, but _don't_ connect to the internet. Update all 3 Anti-Virus Programs and run searches for key loggers, and hacker programs, just to make sure when you log on, they won't be able to track your password." my Mom commanded.

"Alright, see you tonight." I said more confidently, and hung up.


	6. The Recovery

2 or 3 hours passed, I could not stop worrying about the computer and finally I just decided to try to get onto the computer. I booted it up, everything was running normal. My Anti-Virus software opened itself, showing that it blocked 2398 viruses in the last 24 hours. It also said an update was ready. I updated hoping it could snoop out any more viruses that got through. I ran a search for viruses, and sure enough, 3 hours later, it found 493 viruses nestled in the corners of my computers. I scrolled down the list. They were mainly key loggers ready to track my every keystroke. I deleted every last one.

I rebooted my computer, then ran the search again, and the program found 97 more viruses in my computer. I deleted these, then rebooted again, ran the program, and it found 21 more. I repeated this again, and was relieved to find no more viruses. (I hoped).

I connected the Internet cable, and booted up my internet. I went to the RuneScape Home Page, and with shaky hands I moved my mouse pointer up to the "play (existing user)" button. I just chose any world, and the RuneScape game popped up. When it Finished loading, I began to type in my Username, but then stopped. To confuse any possible key loggers on my computer still, I typed my username and password letter by letter. I slowly moved over to the "login" button.

I clicked it, and was relieved to find that I could log in, but would my Blue Party Hat still be in the bank? I was currently residing at the yew trees in Edgeville. I ran to the bank, and noticed a few users talking to me via private chat. I just put my private chat on "friends" and opened up my bank. I scrolled up the screen quickly, not finding a Blue Party Hat. I reached the top of the screen, not a Party Hat in sight.

Then I decided to scroll down more slowly checking closely. I scrolled down about halfway, then found a little paper crown in the middle of the screen, residing next to a Mithril Battle axe, and a Tinderbox. I let out a big sigh and almost fell back out of my chair. "That has to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life." I thought to myself. "Never again" I said out loud and let out a hysterical chuckle.


	7. Fake Party Hats?

Another couple of months passed, and summer break came to an end. I had gotten tons of work done during the summer. By September 2006, I was level 86, with a total level of 1893. I had Tons of different kinds of armor, but every day I looked at the Party Hat sitting in my inventory. I even thought about dropping it, but I quickly changed my mind. I had about 50 million of hard earned cash, pretty much enough to buy anything but rares in the game.

Then one day, actually September 28th, someone hacked into Jagex's server and duplicated party hats out of control. Prices dropped down to 50k or less for Blue Party Hats, and I bought about 5 sets of them, only costing me about 2 million. A week passed, and with enough party Hats for everyone, so prices dropped down to an average of 500 coins, and it didn't matter what color.

The next day, I was reading the forums, when I came upon a post in the "general" forum. It was by a Jagex Mod, explaining that they got their server back, and they were going to delete all the duplicated party hats on Halloween, about three weeks away. I read this post, praying that my original party hat would not be deleted. I posted this message,

"If I had an original Party Hat (which I don't) would it be deleted as well?"  
I was answered right away by a message saying that no, original Party Hats would not be deleted, as the duplicates had a different Java code. I let out a sigh of relief, as my Anti-Virus software made me jump. Someone saw my post and tried to hack my computer, again, but the software caught the viruses.

I looked at my 5 sets, and felt saddened. Now I couldn't wear any and be safe, Lately I had enjoyed wearing the hats 24/7, even when combat training. If I lost 1, I could just go back to the bank and grab another. It was awesome.


	8. Back to normal

**Note: **The halloween event described in this chapter was not the real halloween event of 2006. I made it up because this story was written in july of 2006, don't forget ; )

Halloween came slowly. Well it finally arrived, and I logged in to see what the Halloween drop was.

This year Jagex had devised a Haunted House, turning Mezlar's maze into a Haunted House for 3 days. Questers doing the Dragon Slayer quest would just have to wait. Jagex designed a large labyrinth of mazes, ghosts, goblins, zombies, and more! The Monsters were always 2 combat levels under yours which you attacked them, and if you died in the House, you would respawn outside the Haunted House, retaining all of your items. Those who made it to the end would receive a special piece of furniture for their house, and the ability to make haunted themed walls for their home.

The piece of furniture was either a Spooky Chair that followed you (like in Draynor Manor), a Ghost guard for your dungeon, or even a Spooky-Themed bed for your bedroom. And the thing that surprised everyone, was that the drops were _tradeable!_ And of course, at midnight, every duplicated Party Hat would be deleted. I decide... I should wear the _real_ party hat and say that it is a dupe. I could tell the difference because dupes and real Party Hat's didn't stack. I put it on at Falador Bank, then headed for the Haunted House.

I brought sharks for food, and a few super attack, strength, and defense potions. As well as a Prayer potion. As I approached the Haunted house, level 60's and below followed me and started asking "how do you do this?" I just answered with "I don't know." As soon as I walked in, the room went dark, I groaned, then walked back to the bank to get my bulls-eye lantern.

Back at the Haunted House again, I stepped inside, and the room went dark. I held up my lantern to reveal a level 84 Dark Spirit, covering the chandelier that provided light for the room. I quickly killed him, then ran up the stairs to the next room.

It was a puzzle, quickly solved, so I could go to the second half of the second floor. Where I had to kill 3 level 84 ghosts. Going up the ladder again, on the third floor I had to fight shades, going from level 20 to level 80, until the last one came, which was level 172, but it only teleported me to the basement, where I fought zombies that crawl out of the ground. When I was done, a small puzzle, not much unlike the cage random event for Thieving laid before me. Solving it allowed me to venture up into a garden where my reward could be claimed.

I was rewarded with the ability to use the "Haunted theme" and a Spooky Chair. Yes! Just what I had wanted. I went to my house over in Rimmington as fast as possible to put it down. Then I remembered that my Party Hats would disappear that night, and was happy no longer.


End file.
